Re: Follow Rusty's Memorial Traveling Engines!

GallopingGhostler Sun Mar 19, 2023 9:23 pm

Thanks Jacob, Eric, and Ken. Thanks for clarifying Ken, that the upper cylinder discoloration is due to an unstable plating method, that allowed the gold color to deteriorate to a dirty light Castor color with the rest of the engine losing it in an entirety. Still, the engine looks like a good runner.

Well, had a busy day at church, so didn't get home until 4:30 pm. By the time I got changed, went to the garage, sun is already starting to set.

Located my tach and installed a new battery. When I get a chance soon, will run my K&B .35 Stallion first as a "bench" checkout, then plan to move onto the Fox .35 Gold Stunt. I have both 10x5 and 10x6 props, so will be able to run it and spare the props in the memorial kit.

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Follow Rusty's Memorial Traveling Engines! - Page 8 2023-062

We have new neighbors, 3 of them located immediately behind our 1 acre lot, that weren't there 5 years ago. (Those appear to be standard 1/6 acre lots, plus a new housing tract that wasn't there when we first moved here.) I may have to travel 12 miles out to Ned Houk Park at the R/C field to run them unmuffled.

Regarding run up of the RR-1, just need to locate the holes I drilled to run a Babe Bee and find my #2 or #3 wood screws.

GallopingGhostler Wed Mar 29, 2023 1:25 am

An update, just letting you guys know where Rusty's engines are.

For the past 5 years, I have been heavily involved with volunteering for my local Salvation Army Corps, so my modeling interests took a back seat. When Covid hit, our services became even more intense distributing food, giving clothing, rental and utility assistances.

With the effects of Covid wearing off, I now have some freer time to do modeling stuff.

The week before for a dry run on my engine test setup, I mounted my K&B .35 mid-1970's Stallion in my stand with a 10x6 prop, for its first test run. This is the engine that I cleaned up a couple years ago that started out as a basket case. My clean up is in this thread:

CEF Other Engines: K&B .35 Stallion Acquisition

I thought it appropriate to do a dry run with my setup before I mount Jason's Golden Anniversary Fox .35 Stunt and run it. This Stallion has a special place in my heart, because I was able to fully redeem it from its obscure past that damaged it. It is like hidden gold, the engine actually in spite of its scarred outward appearance, is quite pristene otherwise, should give a long service life.

I thought it fitting to give it a shot. It reminds me of Rusty, how even being scarred with a potentially debilitating health problem, never let that hinder his enthusiasm and gusto for life and support for this forum.

With a good electric glow ignitor and my custom glow fuel consisting of 13.5% nitro and 25% oil of which 10% is Castor, 15% Synth, I figured, lets give it a short go.

Dry run test setup with K&B .35 Stallion. Click here to read:

Last week, I received word that our pastors were detailed to a last minute tasking from Divisional Headquarters as instructors at the Children's Camp in Heber, AZ (9 hours from Clovis. I guess they were short on instructors.) As head laity, I was doing donation pickups, preparing the message in English and Spanish, projector slides, music, and bulletin to fill their spot for Sunday services.

During Sunday afternoon now at home, I mounted the Fox .35, putting a new Masters 10x5 prop on it (didn't want to damage the 9x6 wood that came with the engine kit).

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With my setup, again doing the left foot on the saw horse cross brace to keep it from moving, left hand holding down the HSP igniter, right hand flipping the chicken stick, all I got was a soft burble from the Fox plug, not even a brrraaaappp. I'm wondering if it requires more current from say a power panel. After several attempts, it was starting to get dark.

I'll need to temporarily change the plug to one of mine that works on 1.5 Volts. Monday, I stopped by Harbor Freight and bought Alkaline D batteries. I'm going to solder pigtail wires to join a couple cells in parallel, solder banana clip sockets to the ends, then use the more reliable Hangar 9 power panel igniter clip or salvage the clip off my home made D cell igniter to provide me a reliable one. Also, interestingly enough, my replacement battery on my tachometer went dead after 2 days. I'll need to pickup some batteries for it.

Originally I was going to mail to @Tee Bee the package on March 26, as this was when he'd be ready. I could send the package out right away, but if I could be given a little more time, want to document with tach readings at least the Fox .35 engine. That is if this is OK with he and Jacob.

rsv1cox Wed Mar 29, 2023 7:37 am

I share your affection for the K&B Stallions George, and your comparison with Rusty is spot on.

Much applause for your deep connection to the Salvation Army. It is one of the few charities that I continue to support.

Ken Cook Wed Mar 29, 2023 3:14 pm

The Thunderbolt plug in the Fox should be a Thunderbolt R/C long. Hands down it's the best plug for a Fox one can use. It is 1.5 volts. There was also a spare in the packaging when it was at the last recipient. If your using a rechargeable nicad driver that's already a problem but there could be other issues such as the plug is scrambled. If the engine was flipped and over primed, it could damage the plug. If the mailman is anything like the jackass one I have here, he probably threw the package from his truck. The wire is very fine in the Thunderbolt and fragile, it was the hottest plug available and now no longer. A terrific plug for low performance engines, it has no rpm drop when the igniter is removed. One should receive years of service from one. If your using a clothespin type clip, the outside of the case might not be making a good enough contact due to castor baked on.

GallopingGhostler Wed Mar 29, 2023 6:00 pm

Ken Cook wrote:The Thunderbolt plug in the Fox should be a Thunderbolt R/C long. Hands down it's the best plug for a Fox one can use. It is 1.5 volts.

I haven't checked back at the spare parts stock in the box. I have some hot long plugs that worked well with my other engines and lower voltage glow driver (1.25V for the HSP ignitor.)

Ken Cook wrote:There was also a spare in the packaging when it was at the last recipient.

I'll check, it probably is still there.

Ken Cook wrote:If your using a rechargeable nicad driver that's already a problem but there could be other issues such as the plug is scrambled.

Yup, the HSP is 1.25V, Ni-MH, which is 0.25 Volts short of 1.5V.

Ken Cook wrote:If the engine was flipped and over primed, it could damage the plug.

When I flipped over the Stallion to drain a flooded crankcase, I purposely did not attempt to open to TDC, good way to hydraulic lock the engine and damage something. I had it at BDC and from there, let drain through bypass port exhaust port, then rotated crank until there was enough daylight in the crank opening to the venturi, to let any remaining in the crankcase dribble out. You are correct regarding the Fox, it can be damaged with hydraulic lock, wouldn't even want to go there.

Ken Cook wrote:If the mailman is anything like the jackass one I have here, he probably threw the package from his truck. The wire is very fine in the Thunderbolt and fragile, it was the hottest plug available and now no longer. A terrific plug for low performance engines, it has no rpm drop when the igniter is removed. One should receive years of service from one. If your using a clothespin type clip, the outside of the case might not be making a good enough contact due to castor baked on.

Surprisingly, the box was worn from multiple trips but didn't see anything to indicate it was severely abused. I do have a clothespin style clip using 2 D batteries in parallel for 1.5V service, but was not using it.

Was for a while using Swanson Associates Fireball Red hot plugs, gave excellent service until I bought a faulty NOS card off the bay. It would only work about a week, then acted like it lost its iridium / platinum coating. Heard that Swanson a while back got some faulty wire from one of their suppliers. Have some more recent Chinese hot plugs that seem to be OK.

I got those when bulk prices of 12 for under $30 was the going rate before Covid. Now, plugs are going for around $8 a pop or so I checked, better brand name plugs like over $12. Así es la vida. Such is life.

GallopingGhostler Thu Mar 30, 2023 3:12 am

rsv1cox wrote:I share your affection for the K&B Stallions George, and your comparison with Rusty is spot on.

Much applause for your deep connection to the Salvation Army. It is one of the few charities that I continue to support.

Thanks, Bob. The original purpose was a special tribute to Rusty. That Stallion is amazing. I have it targeted for one of my C/L kits. I will eventually have to add gaskets, compression is a little high, which tells me it would probably run well on no nitro fuel.

GallopingGhostler Sat Apr 08, 2023 8:37 pm

Ken gave some good advice on the plugs that Jason supplied with the Fox Golden .35, requires a higher voltage than the rechargeable 1.25 NiMH single battery provides.

Weather here has finally improved. We were having gale like winds with advisory to stay off the roads. I've never seen it so dry without a break. Normally about every other week, we used to have decent rainfall.

Getting much closer to running at least one of Rusty's engines. My Cox style ignition battery setup is now repaired sufficiently to work. Drilled a bunch of 0.0625 inch holes, then ran soft steel wire through the holes to mend the broken battery case end.

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End is buldging from the spring force of the positive battery terminals. That is why it broke tne first time.

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More to come.

GallopingGhostler Wed May 17, 2023 10:06 am

To all, I haven't forgotten Rusty's engines, but ran into a few other snags. The wooden test stand that I've been using for a very long time, is slowly giving up the ghost. I repaired it 8 years ago, when the wood base split in half, used water based Carpenter's Aliphatic Resin glue to glue the halves back together, then did run ups and break-ins of my various .35 & .40 legacy McCoy engines, and a few Enya's. The Fox Stunt is a shaker, don't want the engine to suddenly become airborne. So, I procured a solid metal stand, due to arrive soon.

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Also, I achieved 69 this year. I am finding now that although I have attempted to maintain good physical conditioning and overall moderated eating and lifestyle, things are not the same they were 10 years ago. In future, I'll have to take a back seat to activities I used to enjoy. The statement, Q: How many seniors does it take to change a light bulb? A: Only one, but it might take him all day!, that I am finding is becoming literally true.

Today for next couple days, I leave for Ruidoso, NM to help the Christian Motorcyclists Association, who are helping the promoters with the Aspen Cash Motorcycle Rally at the Inn of the Mountain God's Resort.

Jacob gave me some wiggle room, as Tee Bee wasn't quite ready yet to receive the engines. After I do my run-up, will report and get the engines off to him.

Tee Bee Wed May 17, 2023 11:03 am

No worries! Things have been hectic on my end as well and for a couple of weeks, I had actually forgotten all about receiving the engines. I look forward to seeing how things work for you before you send them on. All the best!

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